An Air Force T-38C Talon training aircraft crashed Wednesday at about 12:30 p.m. on Columbus AFB, Miss., killing two pilots aboard, according to a USAF release. Names of the pilots were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. According to report from WCBI-TV in Columbus, witnesses saw smoke rising from the base. The station also reported that other training aircraft aloft at the time were diverted to a nearby civilian airport.
The Air Force has stood up the first rapidly deployable units of Airmen designed to protect air bases in the Pacific or other potential hotspots from aerial attack.